1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inter-program communication apparatus in which a plurality of programs that handle a medium object to be processed communicate with one another so as to perform an entire integrated process, an inter-program communication method for use therewith, a computer-readable recording medium, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, inter-program communication used to compensate for functions among inter-program communications searches for a particular program having a function that is not provided in another program and completely entrusts the execution of the process to the found program. For example, there is inter-program communication for realizing coordination, in which, when image data in a data format that is not compatible with image print software is to be printed using the image print software, a search for a program capable of handling the image data of that data format is performed, and that program is entrusted with a process so that the image data is decoded into the data format that can be processed by the image print software.
In order to realize the coordination of a plurality of programs such as that described above, it is necessary to search or estimate as to which program should be used to realize functions that are not provided in a particular program. Furthermore, since it is not known what kinds of functions need to be supplemented by performing inter-program communication, the procedure of the inter-program communication becomes complex, and the program must be implemented by taking extra care as to the coordination of programs. For example, it is considered that a program that is different for each application of the coordination destination must be implemented.
However, in conventional inter-program communication, in a particular program, there is a problem in that, in addition to a load of processing for searching for another program that is most appropriate for coordination, for supplementing functions that cannot be processed by the program for itself, the load of processing due to the complexity and strictness for controlling inter-program communication required for coordination is very heavy.